Abstract:The Return of the Native is the sixth novel of Thomas Hardy as well as the third novel of characters and environment. Since its publishing, the book has received a good comment from readers and gets the eye-touching of researchers. The book, taking the love between Clym and Eustacia as line, embodies their different fates because of their character. At the same time, this novel is the sign of maturity of the prototype application. Either directly from the Bible or indirectly from Greek mythology, the use of a large number of prototypes in The Return of the Native not only increases the Hardy’s novel writing performance, but also highlights the characteristic of Clym, Eustacia and Venn and their shortcomings. Therefore, this paper tries to analyze the Biblical archetypes in the environment, characters and the theme so as to explore a new perspective to study the classic novel and discuss the innovation in shaping of the character. 

Key words:character; environment; theme; biblical archetype; innovation

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction-1

1.1Thomas Hardy and His Works-1

1.2 Studies at Home and Abroad-3

1.2.1 Study Aboard-3

1.2.2 Study at Home-4

1.3 Archetypal Criticism-5

2. Three Archetypal Elements Employed in The Return of the Native-6

2.1 Archetypal Background Egdon Heath--the Garden of Eden-6

2.2 Archetypal Characters-8

2.2.1 Eustacia--The Archetype of Bathsheba-8

2.2.2 Clym--The Archetype of Jesus-11

2.2.3 Venn--The Archetype of Cain-14

2.3 Archetypal Themes--Sin and Salvation-16

2.3.1 Sin-16

2.3.2 Salvation-18

3. Conclusion-18

References-20